We consider a frequency-hopped multiple-access communication system that employs reed-solomon code over GF(Q) and M-ary FSK signaling ($M{leq}Q$) in rayleigh fading channel. We investigate the tradeoff among the modulation symbol size (M), the number of frequency slots, and the code rate in maximizing the average number of successfully transmitted information bits per unit time and unit bandwidth (called normalized throughput). We find that it is desirabel to use a large M in noise-limited environment. In interference-limited environment, it is more improtant to prevent errors (hits) by increasing the number of frequency slots than to correct them with formward error correction techniques or to reduce the error rate by increasing M.